Insights
Summer
edition
of
Clarity
out
now
Insights
As of mid-2022 all NSW local government councils and joint organisations were required to have considered the 2023 Risk and Audit Guidelines. The 2023 Guidelines replace the 2010 NSW Government’s Internal Audit Guidelines for Local Government in NSW. They seek to incorporate findings and lessons learnt from relevant industry reviews...
2 Contributors
Brisbane
Insights
As a business leader, you're likely familiar with the strategic and financial advantages that a business advisory partner can bring. Typically discussions around business advisory partnerships focus on the clear, tangible benefits - strategic insights, financial guide, and operational support. However, there are some key benefits outside of this that...
Sara Crevillen
Partner
Brisbane
Insights
Family dynamics are at the heart of farm succession planning, where relationships, roles, and expectations among family members can significantly influence the success or failure of the transition process. Ensuring a harmonious handover not only safeguards the farm's future but also maintains family unity.
Steve Meyn
Chairman
Australia
Insights
There are two types of businesses—those that have been hacked and those that will be. We often work with companies that don't realise how vulnerable they actually are, until it's too late. The biggest mistake? Ignoring key cyber risks, leaving critical information exposed, and not knowing what threats exist. Protecting...
Tony Corry
Director - Technology Assurance and Advisory
Brisbane, Melbourne
Insights
Imagine this. You are on your way home from work and notice an elderly man has just tripped and fallen. He is laying on the ground and his arm is bleeding. You, along with others around you, run over to render assistance to the gentleman, to see if he is...
Insights
With less than six months to go, has your organisation considered how to implement the new internal audit standards? Internal Audit (‘IA’) plays a vital role in helping organisations achieve improved performance, in ensuring risks are adequately managed in an increasingly complex landscape, and in protecting the public interest. To...
2 contributors
Brisbane
Insights
On Friday, 19 July 2024, worldwide infrastructure crumbled in what is now recognised as the largest outage the global economy has ever seen. A critical error in CrowdStrike Falcon led to a widespread outage affecting organisations relying on their endpoint protection services. The error was introduced during a routine software...
Tony Corry
Director - Technology Assurance and Advisory
Brisbane, Melbourne
Insights
As a new convert to mountain biking, it didn’t take me long to realise that riders face an array of obstacles that can send you tumbling down a hill faster than a stock market crash. But what I soon learnt is that the secrets to risk mitigation in mountain biking...
Cameron Bradley
Partner
Brisbane
Updates
The firm will operate from Level 2, 66 Eagle Street, Brisbane on Monday the 27th of November 2023. PKF Brisbane will be moving to new premises in the Brisbane CBD over the weekend of Saturday the 25th and Sunday the 26th of November.We have enjoyed our time in Brisbane’s iconic...
Insights
For many small business owners, the thought of stepping away from their business can be daunting, particularly after years of hard work building their business from the ground up. However, for those looking to create a long-standing, multi-generational family business, succession planning is a must.
Steve Meyn
Chairman
Australia
Insights
Mixed complaints can pose challenges for organisations as how to best manage them. A mixed complaint is a complaint that includes information that qualifies for whistleblower protections (such as fraud or corrupt conduct), and information that does not qualify for protections and is workplace behaviour related (such as bullying). A...
Insights
Multiple types of wrongdoing reported in the one complaint are referred to as a ‘mixed’ complaint. This can sometimes add complexities to complaints that require responses from different parts of the business, such as People and Culture and/or Legal and Risk. The ISO 37002 standard on Whistleblowing management systems (ISO)...
Insights
The tourism and hospitality industry is seen as one of the largest industries in the world and is a significant contributor to the Australian economy. However, the tourism and hospitality industry has not been immune from issues such as sexual harassment, bullying, fraud and collusion. In a recent study conducted...
Insights
Quite often, the terms ‘equity’ and ‘equality’ are used interchangeably, however there are subtle yet important differences that are useful to understand as we – as individuals and as organisations – seek to attract and retain talented people, and advance as employers of choice. The Cambridge Dictionary defines equity as...
Kym Reilly
Partner
Sydney, Newcastle
Insights
When employees witness wrongdoing in the workplace, they may consider lodging a complaint. However, there are different types of complaints an employee can lodge. Common but easily confused complaints are whistleblower complaints or personal grievance complaints. What are their differences? Whistleblower complaints A whistleblower complaint is lodged by an employee...
Insights
What are negative behaviours? Negative behaviours include several communication and behaviour issues such as passive aggressiveness, narcissism, or disrespect towards other staff members. These behaviours can be indicators of bullying or can mask other serious integrity-related issues such as fraud and corruption. Some of the most common types of negative...
Insights
Many companies implement payment controls to combat and prevent fraud related to fake invoices, altered payment details, and fraudulent loans. However, one type of fraud that can be particularly difficult to detect and prevent is collusion fraud. This type of fraud involves multiple perpetrators, often both inside and outside of...
Insights
As you reflect on your plans for 2023, take a moment to consider the introduction of a whistleblower protection program for your business. Not only is it a regulatory requirement for all large proprietary and publicly listed companies, it is becoming increasingly embraced by organisations large and small, public and...
Insights
Financial statements play an important role in helping not-for-profit (NFP) private sector entities stay accountable, manage their limited resources effectively and provide transparency to users. However, many smaller NFP entities find that current Australian financial reporting requirements are overly complex to apply and onerous for stakeholders. In response to this,...
Insights
IT General Controls (ITGCs) provide important insight into an organisation’s risk and control environment. Here, we highlight three common red flags for access controls (a key aspect of ITGC) and suggest how to avoid the associated risks. What are IT general controls? ITGC is a subset of IT controls and...
Press Releases
Leading audit, accounting and tax firm PKF has announced its expansion in North Queensland with the opening of a new office in Townsville’s CBD. Leading PKF North Queensland in the Townsville office will be Audit and Assurance Partner Tim Follett, who recently relocated to Townsville from Brisbane. Tim has family...
Tim Follett
Partner
Townsville, Brisbane
Insights
What do you need to consider when one of the main revenue streams for your business changes? That’s exactly what Australian Government funded Residential Aged Care providers should be contemplating right now. Providers will cease getting Federal care subsidy payments for consumers in Residential Aged Care under the Aged Care...
Cameron Bradley
Partner
Brisbane
Press Releases
Brisbane-based accountancy practice PT Partners will join the practice of PKF Brisbane on 1 July. The four-Partner, Springwood-based practice has been operating in the Brisbane market for over thirty years and has established itself as a leading southside firm for family owned and owner-managed business clients. All of PT’s staff...
Larn Mulligan
CEO
Brisbane
Insights
PKF surveyed 41 organisations and held in-depth interviews with representatives from 10 large organisations. Of the 41 organisations who responded to our survey, 80% indicated they received 25 or less disclosures per year from their whistleblowing channels (internal and external). This is consistent with the results of the Navex Global...
Insights
On 1 August 2019, the Senate referred an inquiry into the regulation of auditing in Australia to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services. The report of findings and recommendations was released on 11 November 2020. One of the main themes acknowledged in the report, which forms the...
Shaun Lindemann
Partner
Brisbane
Insights
The recent reporting season has seen many Not-For-Profits (NFPs) ask the question ‘what impact will the COVID-19 pandemic have on my financial statements?’ The pandemic has significantly increased levels of uncertainty in the economy coupled with inherent levels of uncertainty in financial reports, leading to uncertainty on uncertainty. While those...
Tim Follett
Partner
Townsville, Brisbane
Insights
This time last year many Governance Risk and Compliance (“GRC”) professionals were preparing for the new whistleblowing laws to come into force. Six months ago, many of those same professionals were hastily drafting whistleblowing policies to meet the 1 January 2020 deadline. Given that this deadline has past, it is...
Press Releases
PKF Brisbane has announced the appointment to their partnership group of home-grown young talent, Mr Tim Follett. The appointment of Tim as Partner in its Audit and Assurance division follows a period of strong growth in the audit practice. This growth mirrors that also achieved in the firm’s tax consulting...
Larn Mulligan
CEO
Brisbane
Insights
Establishing and maintaining an ethical culture within any organisation is a significant responsibility and it requires leadership and consistent effort. The number and nature of recent Royal Commission investigations into the Franchise, Financial and Aged and Disability Care sectors bring into sharp focus the relationship between misconduct and integrity in...
Insights
The Australian Charities and Not-For-Profits Commission (ACNC) is doing its part to keep Australia safe from money laundering and terrorism. During the year the ACNC undertook a national risk assessment into Australia’s not-for-profit (NFP) sector in conjunction with Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC). The findings were released in...
Cameron Bradley
Partner
Brisbane
Insights
Businesses across the world are being bombarded by a range of cyber scams with one of the most prevalent being Business Email Compromise (BEC), also known as ‘CEO Fraud’. Between October 2013 and May 2018, more than $12 billion USD in domestic and international losses were attributed by the FBI...
Insights
A need for change in attitudes towards whistleblowers Despite improvements in some areas of the whistleblower framework, there are, unfortunately, still significant shortfalls in the organisational treatment of whistleblowers. A recent study titled Whistling While They Work 2 by Griffith University surveyed 17,778 individuals who were reporters, managers, executives and...
Insights
AASB 139 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement previously required impairment allowances be measured according to an incurred loss model. Under this model, the recognition of credit loss allowances was triggered by loss event subsequent. However, the new AASB 9 Financial Instruments (applicable for reporting periods beginning on or after 1...
Tim Follett
Partner
Townsville, Brisbane
Insights
A step in the right direction An area that businesses need to get right in their operations is an effective whistleblowing framework. One of the existing requirements under the draft bill is for all large proprietary and publicly listed companies, as defined by the Corporations Act, to have a whistleblower...
Insights
Integrity in the workplace has come under the spotlight in 2018, bringing about a need for significant cultural change in both public and corporate entities operating in Australia. Reviews, such as the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, have exposed numerous disconcerting behaviours from...
Insights
Background In 2017, the Federal Government passed laws whereby ASIC will recover most of its regulatory costs via levies from the industries that it regulates. The 2017-18 financial year is the first year that the ‘Industry Funding Model’ will operate, with invoices expected to be sent to affected parties in...
Cameron Bradley
Partner
Brisbane
Insights
Whistleblowers have been found to be one of the most likely means of detecting fraud and corruption, according to the findings of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) in its Report to the Nations, 2018. It is also apparent from the ACFE Report that a significant number of those...
Insights
Lately, we are increasingly being asked for guidance on the correct accounting for Research and Development (R&D) Tax Incentives received. As an investment tax credit is accounted for either as a government grant or as income tax or as both but alarmingly it falls outside the scope of both relevant...
Liam Murphy
Managing Partner
Brisbane